The canonisation of Vaz comes without attributing a second miracle to the missionary known as the "Apostle of Sri Lanka". The Vatican usually approves one miracle for beatification and another for canonisation.

Sri Lanka is mainly a Buddhist country, but it has a 7.5 percent Christian population.

The late pope John Paul II beatified Vaz in January 1995 at a mass at the same sea-front venue in Colombo.

Vaz, who is credited with working tirelessly for the church in Sri Lanka for some 23 years in the 1600s, also spent several years in jail after the Dutch made Catholicism illegal.

The Dutch had seized Sri Lanka's coastal areas from the Portuguese and feared the island's Catholics might remain loyal to them.

The Pope has approved Sri Lanka's first saint, an Indian missionary credited with reviving the Catholic Church on the island during persecution by Dutch colonial rulers, the church said Thursday.Pope Francis is scheduled to canonise Joseph Vaz next year during his visit to...